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Authors: Murray Leinster
Tags: Science-Fiction
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“through his great-great-grandson. It’s reasonable! But I want you to go get yourself measured for an outfit befitting a well-to-do American travelling in Napoleon’s time. I’ve picked out a tailor. He thinks the outfits are to be taken to Hollywood for a television show. Do you need money?”
Harrison shook his head.
“I insisted,” said Carroll with some humor, “that I must be able to draw on the bank-account of Carroll, Dubois et Cie. My wife will burst with fury when she finds out I’ve done so! I’ve ordered books to do research on de Bassompierre, memoirs, and so on. Ybarra is sympathetic enough to dig out the forms used for laissez-passe and the identity papers we’ll need. Modern methods of forgery should take care of them. If you’ll get yourself measured for clothes, we’ll be all set. Right?”
Harrison nodded, more or less uneasily. Carroll said:
“Valerie, mon cherie , I count upon your friendship not to mention that I have come to Paris. It is agreed?”
“But of course!” said Valerie. She smiled at him.
Carroll strode away. Pepe followed. Harrison, looking after them, noticed for the first time that Carroll moved with a certain unconscious ease, so that he couldn’t have passed as a man of no importance in any period of history.
Then Valerie said anxiously:
“You are to go to—where my uncle Georges goes to buy the stock for the shop?” she asked uneasily.
“It seems to be necessary,” admitted Harrison.
“How long will you be gone?”
Harrison knew an irrational elation. That was the angle which first occurred to her!
There was no actual reason for him to seize upon such an item; to find his tongue working freely though his breathing became uncertain. He could have said the same things at any other time, and probably more effectively if he’d practised them beforehand. But he heard his mouth saying startling and impassioned things in a hoarse and quite in-adequate manner. He overheard urgent insistences that he had remembered her from their childhood and had never been able to think romantically about anybody else, and a large number of other unconvincing statements which he believed implicitly as he made them.
Valerie did not seem to be offended. She listened, though, with every appearance of astonishment. And suddenly he was struck dumb by the realization that this was very hasty, and she might not believe any of it. He regarded her miserably.
“I—I hope you don’t mind,” he protested, panicked.
“Only I—I would have had to say it sooner or later…”
Valerie rose from where she sat.
“I do not think we should stay here,” she said primly.
She moved away. He followed her miserably, not noticing that they were not headed toward the carousel or any of the other more thickly populated parts of Bonmaison. He stumbled in her wake.
She paused and looked around her. She did not seem astonished to find that they had arrived where they were not in sight of anybody else at all. But Harrison was astonished. He stared at her. She smiled very faintly.
Incredulously, he reached out his hands. She displayed no indignation.
Presently they ate ices together and Valerie was composed, though her eyes shone a little. She said:
“My aunt will be furious! But we will tell M. Carroll and he will force her to agree.”
In his then emotional state, this impressed Harrison as the most brilliant and intelligent and admirable of all possible remarks.
When he got back to his hotel, Pepe was waiting for him. Pepe frowned.
“Look here!” he said indignantly. “I’ve been thinking about my great-great-grandfather, who was here in 1804. If anything happens to him—”
“Pepe,” said Harrison raptly, “I’m going to marry Valerie! We decided on it today!”
“If Carroll goes back to 1804,” fumed Pepe, “nobody can tell what will happen! You know the theory about what if a man kills his grandfather in the past. But it doesn’t have to be him! If anybody went back
Harrison shook his head.
“I insisted,” said Carroll with some humor, “that I must be able to draw on the bank-account of Carroll, Dubois et Cie. My wife will burst with fury when she finds out I’ve done so! I’ve ordered books to do research on de Bassompierre, memoirs, and so on. Ybarra is sympathetic enough to dig out the forms used for laissez-passe and the identity papers we’ll need. Modern methods of forgery should take care of them. If you’ll get yourself measured for clothes, we’ll be all set. Right?”
Harrison nodded, more or less uneasily. Carroll said:
“Valerie, mon cherie , I count upon your friendship not to mention that I have come to Paris. It is agreed?”
“But of course!” said Valerie. She smiled at him.
Carroll strode away. Pepe followed. Harrison, looking after them, noticed for the first time that Carroll moved with a certain unconscious ease, so that he couldn’t have passed as a man of no importance in any period of history.
Then Valerie said anxiously:
“You are to go to—where my uncle Georges goes to buy the stock for the shop?” she asked uneasily.
“It seems to be necessary,” admitted Harrison.
“How long will you be gone?”
Harrison knew an irrational elation. That was the angle which first occurred to her!
There was no actual reason for him to seize upon such an item; to find his tongue working freely though his breathing became uncertain. He could have said the same things at any other time, and probably more effectively if he’d practised them beforehand. But he heard his mouth saying startling and impassioned things in a hoarse and quite in-adequate manner. He overheard urgent insistences that he had remembered her from their childhood and had never been able to think romantically about anybody else, and a large number of other unconvincing statements which he believed implicitly as he made them.
Valerie did not seem to be offended. She listened, though, with every appearance of astonishment. And suddenly he was struck dumb by the realization that this was very hasty, and she might not believe any of it. He regarded her miserably.
“I—I hope you don’t mind,” he protested, panicked.
“Only I—I would have had to say it sooner or later…”
Valerie rose from where she sat.
“I do not think we should stay here,” she said primly.
She moved away. He followed her miserably, not noticing that they were not headed toward the carousel or any of the other more thickly populated parts of Bonmaison. He stumbled in her wake.
She paused and looked around her. She did not seem astonished to find that they had arrived where they were not in sight of anybody else at all. But Harrison was astonished. He stared at her. She smiled very faintly.
Incredulously, he reached out his hands. She displayed no indignation.
Presently they ate ices together and Valerie was composed, though her eyes shone a little. She said:
“My aunt will be furious! But we will tell M. Carroll and he will force her to agree.”
In his then emotional state, this impressed Harrison as the most brilliant and intelligent and admirable of all possible remarks.
When he got back to his hotel, Pepe was waiting for him. Pepe frowned.
“Look here!” he said indignantly. “I’ve been thinking about my great-great-grandfather, who was here in 1804. If anything happens to him—”
“Pepe,” said Harrison raptly, “I’m going to marry Valerie! We decided on it today!”
“If Carroll goes back to 1804,” fumed Pepe, “nobody can tell what will happen! You know the theory about what if a man kills his grandfather in the past. But it doesn’t have to be him! If anybody went back
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